ECHL All-Star Logo Unveiled

ECHL 2010 All-Star Game logoToday, the ECHL unveiled the logo for the 2010 All-Star Game which will be hosted by the Ontario Reign. It is the 18th ECHL All-Star Game and will take place on January 20 at the Citizens Business Bank in Ontario, California.

You can see it here to the right. It's your typical minor league all-star logo. You take the host team's logo, incorporate some host city elements and wrap it all up with a pretty star-themed bow.

It's just like all the others. But they're all rather well done, actually.

Here's the official description of the new logo:

The logo features a front view of ECHL and the Citizens Business Bank Arena and utilizes the Reign colors of navy, grey and burnt orange. The team’s familiar shield is in the background with 'Ontario, California' below Citizens Business Bank Arena while '2010 ECHL All-Star' and an artist's rendition of the San Bernardino Mountains are featured above it.

For the seventh year in a row the ECHL All-Star Game logo was designed by Joe Bosack, who is the president and founder of The Joe Bosack Graphic Design Company. Bosack also designed the ECHL logo, the Kelly Cup Playoffs logo, the ECHL 15th Anniversary logo, the ECHL 20th Anniversary logo and the ECHL Hall of Fame logo.

That last bit got me thinking about something. It's what I mentioned on Twitter tonight. Icethetics should give some recognition to the individuals and design firms charged with creating the logos we all tend to bash or praise at the drop of a hat.

So I'd like to start a small side-project here on Icethetics wherein we gather information about who's behind all the logos we discuss every day. I don't have a name for this project yet, so if you think of something let me know.

UPDATE: I like "Behind the Brand" for the name of this project. Thanks Bill!

If you'd like to help out with this project, start doing some research and email in or comment with any information you find. I'd prefer a URL for design firms/artists still in business, but a name will suffice at the very least. You will need to provide some sort of proof so we don't credit anyone incorrectly.

Does this sound like a project you guys are interested in? If not, I'll drop it. But if it is, I'd love to start getting it put together.

Hershey Gets New Jerseys

As I mentioned last night on Twitter, there is an awful lot going on in the minors these days. Time to get everyone caught up. We'll begin with the AHL and work our way down.

The Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears have unveiled brand new sweaters for the 2009-10 season. They did so yesterday on their official web site — while I was busy with the Wild third jersey leak.

The Bears made the switch to the Reebok Edge style uniforms two seasons ago and were one of the few teams that kept changes to a minimum — HERSHEY placed diagonally down the front of the chocolate jerseys and BEARS down the front of the white ones. Those designs are no more.

Hershey Bears' new jerseys for 2009-10

The home and road sweaters will now place the team's primary logo front and center, while reserving a new text-based design for the alternate jersey. The new third takes its inspiration from the Dallas Stars' with the city name arched above the player's number.

The Bears have also announced the launch of the new sweaters will take place during their season opener in October.

The make of the jersey has remained the same, but the appearance has changed. Anyone looking to purchase one of the new jerseys can do so on opening night, October 3. As always, fans can customize their jerseys to have specific names on the back.

Thanks to James for the tip.

Moving right along now to the ECHL. The Ontario Reign will play host to the league's 2010 All-Star Game. It was announced yesterday that the logo for the event will be unveiled this Friday at 1 PM EST.

The Citizens Business Bank Arena will play host to the 18th ECHL All-Star Game which takes place on January 20, 2010. The event is sponsored by Reebok. No word on whether the All-Star jerseys will be debuted on Friday as well.

We'll finish up our look at the minors with the QMJHL. As you know the league is switching over to the Reebok Edge uniforms this season. Scotty from Hockeybums tells me the plan is for the league and Reebok to unveil all of the remaining uniforms on September 9. Not a hard date to remember — 09/09/09.

One more item now regarding the London Knights.

London Knights in their Euro jerseys

The Knights will be hosting the Euro Can Cup in which they and other participating teams will don European-style jerseys — as seen above. It's a rather awful sight. Organizers are hoping for it to be a success. I'm hoping it's not if for no other reason than those terrible uniforms.

You can read more about the event at the London Free Press. If you'd like to punish yourself by looking at more pictures of these jerseys, click here.